Thermoeconomics as a cost accounting methodology for Spiral Economy and Industrial Symbiosis

Abstract:

The word "recycling", related to efficiency and cost, is used interchangeably by Thermoeconomics, Circular Economy (thermodynamically speaking, Spiral Economy) and Industrial Symbiosis. This paper applies thermoeconomics to assess the physical cost of recycling waste in increasingly complex industrial processes. It is a critical need, as each time waste is recycled at a lower cost than its original alternative, we will save the necessary natural resources. The proposed theory allows to generalise the idea of waste as any mass and/or flow of useless energy that, by interaction with the environment, degrades to thermodynamic equilibrium with it. Therefore, the exergy cost of waste should be the sum of the exergy of the resources used to produce, transfer, partially recover and dispose of it. Furthermore, this cost must be added to that of the products obtained, and to identify this cost formation process, and it is necessary to describe an "irreversibility carrier" that accounts for the entropy accumulated by the waste.

Año de publicación:

2021

Keywords:

• Circular economy
• Waste
• Thermoeconomics
• exergy cost
• industrial symbiosis
• recycling

Fuente:

scopus